Collectively and individually, four best friends from Upstate NY have been making music since the late 80’s. Sometimes, they call themselves The Distractions.
The band includes Matt “Mato” D’Ambrosio (drums), Todd Haviland (bass), Bob Smith (guitar, vocals, keys) and Marc Fuller behind the board. In that time they have worked on many other projects. Together Todd and Bob formed Shu, and Bob launched The Static Dive. Mato worked with bands throughout the region. And Marc ran his own successful recording studio. He even won a Grammy with Kanye West.
But they always come back to The Distractions. Between 1988 and 1994 Bob, Todd, and Mato recorded over 400 songs on a four-track cassette recorder. Those songs include many diamonds in the rough and a ton of fun atrocities. You can peruse them to your heart’s content here in the Archive. In 1998 they found their way into a real studio with Marc, their very own George Martin. For the next 20 years, they made records. Sometimes they were all four together. Sometimes it was just a couple of them. Nevertheless, each record is philosophically and stylistically, The Distractions.
Now in 2020, they’ve got the full band back together and are doing it again. “Shake the Feeling” is the band’s first new release in 12 years. True to the band’s sound, it is a mellow Adult Alternative Rock song with Alt-Country and Americana leanings. Written and recorded in quarantine, each member recorded his respective part in his own home studio and then sent the tracks to Marc for mixing. Lyrically the track observes shifting priorities in our troubled modern age, but from a very personal perspective.
“Shake the Feeling” is available now via all major streaming services. Follow the links below to connect with the band and listen to the track on the Deep Indie Dive playlist.